That New Jersey teen who left home? Dad woke her up at night to play beer pong.

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Maybe this case of the New Jersey girl suing her parents for tuition and her college fund has another side. Apparently, the parents were very permissive...until the boyfriend came along.
N.J. judge denies teen honor student’s request for emergency funds in suit against parents

New Jersey teen Rachel Canning, who accused her parents of a pattern of abuse - including accusations of "inappropriate affection" from her father - that eventually led to the girl being kicked out of their Lincoln Park home last year won't be getting a free ride just yet.

A judge Tuesday ruled against the rebellious teen's bid to have her living expenses covered and her college tuition expenses footed by her father Sean and Elizabeth - a setback for the girl who has captured national attention with the unusual lawsuit.

Morristown Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard appears to have agreed with an independent investigators' assessment of the home atmosphere: that the high school cheerleader and lacrosse player is “spoiled.”

....The teen detailed a pattern of abuse that led her to develop bulimia and question whether father truly did know best.

Canning claimed that her "inappropriately affectionate" dad would push her to binge drink and wake her up in the middle of the night to play beer pong, according to court documents obtained by NBC New York.

On several occasions, the allegedly dangerously doting dad told the pretty teen that he viewed her not just as a daughter, but "more than that," the station reported.

Her mother, meanwhile, tossed barbs at the girl such as "fat" and "porky" that caused her to shrink to a startling 92 pounds by her junior year, derailing her high school basketball career.

... The parents say their rebellious daughter refused to drop a dud of a boyfriend and failed to follow simple house rules such as doing chores and making curfew.

She willingly left the home, they contend.

... Rachel Canning has lived in the Rockaway, N.J. home of classmate Jaime Inglesino. Inglesino’s father, John Inglesino, has foot the bill for the girl’s lawyer fees, more than $12,000 thus far.

“My parents have rationalized their actions by blaming me for not following their rules,” Rachel Canning said in her court papers, according to The Daily Record. “They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me and have redirected my college fund, indicating their refusal to afford me an education as a punishment.”

Canning outlines a litany of alleged abuse that involved demeaning comments about her weight, as well as inappropriate encounters with her father. She says her mother called her "fat" and "porky" as she was growing up, and she developed an eating disorder her sophomore year of high school. By her junior year, she says she weighed 92 pounds and was no longer healthy enough to play basketball, which she says angered her father.

Canning alleges her father was "inappropriately affectionate" toward her for much of her life, and claims he fed her so much alcohol that she blacked out on occasion. Once, she alleges, he woke her up in the middle of the night to drink and play beer pong. Frequently, she says, he told her that he didn't view her as a daughter, but as "more than that."

Shortly before she moved out of her parents' house, Canning says she was wrongly accused of being drunk at a homecoming dance and had to call her parents. She says her mother and father, who were in Las Vegas at the time, "began screaming obscenities" and the teacher in the room with her heard the curses. When Canning complained to the school about the alleged longtime abuse she had endured, the school called child services and her parents, in retaliation, then cut her off and directed her college funds elsewhere.

Rachel Canning says she doesn't think returning home is a viable option, nor does her therapist.

"I am not willingly and voluntarily leaving a reasonable situation at home to make my own decisions," Canning wrote in a statement to the court. "I had to leave to end the abuse. My parents simply will not help me any longer. They want nothing to do with me and refuse to even help me financially outside the home although they certainly have the ability to do so."

No mistaking what side of this your on. And being female it's not surprising. Did it ever occur to you that she is making shit up to build her case?

Whoa there!

Note the word "if".

And let's take a few steps back here.

Thus far:

1. I do not believe she deserves any money. I think that's an open invitation to Obama's band of thieves to extend childhood financially beyond any reasonable expectations.

2. I do believe that the parents have a role here.

There is documentation of the bulimia and its treatment.

There are probably also psychiatric records of the mother-daughter relationship which could demonstrate the mother's role in her child's illness.

There is no documentation of the father and the binge drinking, although if the mother were forced to be honest on the stand, that might be able to be ascertained.

There is a witness to the phone call with her parents when they screamed at her for being accused of drunkenness at school.

The (Catholic) school was concerned enough to call CPS.

3. The girl has the support of her best (female) friend's parents and they are supporting her. The Cannings are contributing nothing towards her upkeep.

4. Yes, she may be 18, but she is still in high school and wants to finish. Apparently, the Catholic school was her parents' choice, not hers.

5. She wants to major in a science in college. I have respect for kids who go through the science track at school and maintain a 3.5 (especially at a Catholic school). That's not easy to do. She clearly has some sense of discipline.

Now, all of that said, it is possible that this is a simple case of a girl who won't give up a boyfriend her parents disapprove of and all hell breaking loose. But if it is not, then we need to wait as more facts come out.

Maybe this case of the New Jersey girl suing her parents for tuition and her college fund has another side. Apparently, the parents were very permissive...until the boyfriend came along.
N.J. judge denies teen honor student’s request for emergency funds in suit against parents

New Jersey teen Rachel Canning, who accused her parents of a pattern of abuse - including accusations of "inappropriate affection" from her father - that eventually led to the girl being kicked out of their Lincoln Park home last year won't be getting a free ride just yet.

A judge Tuesday ruled against the rebellious teen's bid to have her living expenses covered and her college tuition expenses footed by her father Sean and Elizabeth - a setback for the girl who has captured national attention with the unusual lawsuit.

Morristown Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard appears to have agreed with an independent investigators' assessment of the home atmosphere: that the high school cheerleader and lacrosse player is “spoiled.”

....The teen detailed a pattern of abuse that led her to develop bulimia and question whether father truly did know best.

Canning claimed that her "inappropriately affectionate" dad would push her to binge drink and wake her up in the middle of the night to play beer pong, according to court documents obtained by NBC New York.

On several occasions, the allegedly dangerously doting dad told the pretty teen that he viewed her not just as a daughter, but "more than that," the station reported.

Her mother, meanwhile, tossed barbs at the girl such as "fat" and "porky" that caused her to shrink to a startling 92 pounds by her junior year, derailing her high school basketball career.

... The parents say their rebellious daughter refused to drop a dud of a boyfriend and failed to follow simple house rules such as doing chores and making curfew.

She willingly left the home, they contend.

... Rachel Canning has lived in the Rockaway, N.J. home of classmate Jaime Inglesino. Inglesino’s father, John Inglesino, has foot the bill for the girl’s lawyer fees, more than $12,000 thus far.

“My parents have rationalized their actions by blaming me for not following their rules,” Rachel Canning said in her court papers, according to The Daily Record. “They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me and have redirected my college fund, indicating their refusal to afford me an education as a punishment.”

1. If a mother is haranguing her daughter about weight to the point where the daughter develops an eating disorder, that IS abuse.

2. If a father uses his authority to get an underage daughter to binge drink to blackouts with him, that IS ALSO abuse.

3. If the father is a cop and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, he should be suspended from his job in law enforcement.

4. If the father is inappropriately close with the daughter--even if it's not physical--and the mother is jealous of this, the abuse in #1 is easily explained.

5. If the father is inappropriately close with the daughter and she gets a boyfriend, the father pulling rank and coming down with new rules and curfews is easily explained.

This is a sick family system. The girl is well out of it. Sometimes abuse is more subtle than is obvious to the outside. CPS can miss stuff like this.

As to whether the parents owe her a college fund and expenses, that is a legal question and the answer to that is "no."

If the father is a cop, then that would explain why nothing resulted out of the call to child protective services. I've heard about how easily cops can get away with abuse of their spouses. I doubt that their kids would be different. I also know from personal experience that when you call social services on somebody they respect, often nothing comes out of it. The person you accuse is just made to look like a victim when they're not one.

1. If a mother is haranguing her daughter about weight to the point where the daughter develops an eating disorder, that IS abuse.

2. If a father uses his authority to get an underage daughter to binge drink to blackouts with him, that IS ALSO abuse.

3. If the father is a cop and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, he should be suspended from his job in law enforcement.

4. If the father is inappropriately close with the daughter--even if it's not physical--and the mother is jealous of this, the abuse in #1 is easily explained.

5. If the father is inappropriately close with the daughter and she gets a boyfriend, the father pulling rank and coming down with new rules and curfews is easily explained.

This is a sick family system. The girl is well out of it. Sometimes abuse is more subtle than is obvious to the outside. CPS can miss stuff like this.

These are indeed allegations, and apparently ones without much, if any, merit, or else I rather doubt that a judge would have merely cast them aside. That having been said, they are also serious allegations and warrant at least enough investigation to find out whether they have any merit whatsoever.

I'm not quite ready to sully the name of a decorated police officer over unsubstantiated allegations just yet.

Originally Posted by Elspeth

As to whether the parents owe her a college fund and expenses, that is a legal question and the answer to that is "no."

Absolutely. Lots of people have a shitty childhood. Life sucks that way sometimes. A shitty childhood, even one at the hands of (relatively) wealthy parents, does not entitle one to some manner of parental largess, most particularly after one reaches the age of majority and is an emancipated adult.

The school in question has already agreed to finish her high school career, tuition or not. She may have a claim regarding the college fund IF she co-mingled funds from her own earning in summer jobs or whatever, though I strongly suspect that this girl never really worked a summer job, and if she did, she wasn't socking it all away to a college fund. The father has said publicly that he was very "liberal" with her (in the sense that he gave her a wide berth on rules and that he provided for her with reckless abandon) and that she wanted for nothing.

It's high time girlie got out there and got herself a job and made her own way in the world. That's never easy, either for the worried parent(s) or for the teenager who needs to come of age, but we all have our rites of passage. Her having to "sink or swim" right now is the very best thing in the world for her.

If the father is a cop, then that would explain why nothing resulted out of the call to child protective services. I've heard about how easily cops can get away with abuse of their spouses. I doubt that their kids would be different. I also know from personal experience that when you call social services on somebody they respect, often nothing comes out of it. The person you accuse is just made to look like a victim when they're not one.

That is sometimes true but then again I have seen it work the opposite.

The difference between pigs and people is that when they tell you you're cured it isn't a good thing.

With regard to New Jersey child support, a parent has the duty to support their child until such time as the court considers the child emancipated.

In New Jersey, a parent does have the duty to pay child support while the child of the marriage is enrolled on a full-time basis in college and potentially post-graduate education.

However, if you are paying child support for a child in college, the child must be enrolled on a full-time basis and the child has to be shown to be making a good faith effort in school.

If this case makes it up to the NJ Supreme Court, the argument may be why should married parents (intact families) be allowed to end support at 18 while divorced parents are required by law to support their children's higher ed?